Davar Kingdom of God - The Blessings of Sonship

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Exod 14:21-22). This was what happened when the people of Israel were reborn by going through water. The "strong east wind" was the Holy Spirit—the power of new creation. It was the spirit of God who was hovering over the waters, the deep, and his power was released when God said, "Let there be light." The same Holy Spirit was with the people of Israel, and he guided them as they traveled in the wilderness, which was a proof that they were heirs of God. And it was this spirit who led those of the second generation into the Promised Land. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. ... So the people crossed over opposite Jericho (Joshua 3:15-16). These people were also reborn by going through water, and became heirs of God. The Holy Spirit was a seal and a deposit guaranteeing their inheritance. This role of God's spirit is well illustrated in the story of Elijah and Elisha. Elisha succeeded Elijah by receiving the same spirit that Elijah had. Interestingly, they too crossed the Jordan with the water divided. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied (2 Kgs 2:9). "A double portion" meant the inheritance that a firstborn son received from his father. So, Elisha inherited the spirit that rested on Elijah by seeing him taken up to heaven. Note how Elisha shouted that time: "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel." These chariots and horsemen had followed him since then. All this was to reestablish the nation of Israel that completely failed to keep their covenant with God. It meant to be a renewal of the covenant. So, as Joshua did, Elisha crossed the Jordan from east to west, and reentered the Promised Land with the water also divided. The spirit he received was the only hope guaranteeing the succession of the inheritance promised to the people of Israel who had failed to be God's heirs by breaking the covenant as Naomi was for the field of Elimelech. In fact, this spirit was never taken away from Israel, even during the time of the Babylonian captivity. God spoke through Haggai to the people who had returned to Jerusalem, saying: This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear (Hag 2:5). The same spirit remains among those who have become God's heirs in Christ today. As Joshua received the spirit that Moses had and as Elisha received the spirit that Elijah had, Jesus' disciples received the Holy Spirit that Jesus had so that they would go and lay hold of God's kingdom. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight (Acts 1:8-9). We, as believers in Christ and heirs of God, have an important role in this church age when the rest of the people in the world, even the chosen ones of Israel are failing to be such.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14). Since the beginning of creation, the Holy Spirit has been always a backstage being whose work was not recognized or praised at all. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Gen 1:2-3). The Holy Spirit himself was the power to produce light, but he was not the light itself. He was the living water that watered the Garden of Eden, and caused everything that had life to grow and produce fruit, and was the breath of life that made Adam a living being, but he himself was not the life. Adam, when he sinned, was driven out of the garden, and went to live in the wilderness far from the source of the living water—spiritual death and separation from the Holy Spirit. The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them (Isa 41:17). Yet, the people of Israel came to learn that their God was the source of water when they saw a rock split and water gushing out of it. God created them, and his spirit was again living and working among them, which was the proof that they were heirs of God. This truth about the role of the Holy Spirit is the theme in the book of Ruth. Elimelech with his wife and two sons went to live in the land of Moab because of a famine, which signified the spiritual condition of Israel during the period of Judges: they began to worship idols following the way of the Canaanites whom they had not driven out. The death of Elimelech and that of his two sons were a prophecy that the people and their kingdom, which would be divided into two, would come to an end. Naomi was left behind alone with the converted gentile widow of one of her two sons. What became at stake was the land of Elimelech—the inheritance which was now lost into the hand of a stranger. In their time, a land which was abandoned for as long as ten years could not be returned to the original owner: what made worse in the case of Naomi's family was that no heirs had survived. The last thread of hope was the existence of Naomi. Boaz, who had been mysteriously guided by Naomi, said to the kinsman-redeemer, Mr. so and so: Concerning the land of our brother, of Elimelech, Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is the price for it, and here I say, speaking to your ears, "Buy in front of the seated ones and the elders of my people." If you redeem, redeem, but if you wish not to, tell me so, so that I will know: because you are the only one who can redeem, and I am after you (Ruth 4:3-4, Translation mine). Note that unlike the case of Abraham who purchased a piece of land with 400 shekels of silver from the Hittites, no money was involved in this transaction (Acts 8:18). The price was Naomi herself: whoever adopted her as his mother would get the land. This is exactly the role of the Holy Spirit as "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance." Thus, John, representing the church, received and took the mother of Jesus into his home as his own mother. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27).

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—... (John 14:6). This "another Counselor" is one of the three beings of the Trinity, and is usually called "the Holy Spirit" in the New Testament. According to Jesus' words above, this being was to be given to the disciples by the Father. Admittedly, at that point, this being was not yet given to them who had already believed that Jesus was the Messiah. This promise of giving the Holy Spirit to his disciples was a part of the "share" that Jesus mentioned when he washed the feet of his disciples: he said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no part (share) with me." This share is what God's heirs are entitled to receive. Note that their whole body must be washed first, and their feet must be washed constantly in order for them to take part in this sharing according to Jesus. ... —the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (v. 17) This "another Counselor" is now called "the Spirit of truth" because he is the one who testifies about Jesus who is "the truth." This truth is the spiritual reality to which all believers are brought into: they have been united with Christ in his death and resurrection. In contrast to that, the reality of this world is not run by this truth, but in fact run by the spirit of falsehood (1 John 4:6, John 8:44). And this is the reason why "the world cannot accept him," and "it neither sees him nor knows him." But for those who have become heirs of God, he lives, remains, and is with them forever because they have been adopted into the family of the Trinity. In the same way, Jesus, as a human, was adopted into this family and received the Holy Spirit when he was baptized: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:21-22)." Interestingly, the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus is figuratively illustrated through the presence of Jesus' mother in the gospel of John. The miracle of turning water into wine in chapter 2 is depicted as the first sign in Jesus' ministry, in which his mother played an indispensable role as a mediator between Jesus and the people who did not yet know much about their redeemer: she said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Obviously, the water changed into wine is linked with the blood and water that gushed out of his body at the crucifixion. It was not a coincidence that this sign took place at the wedding where Jesus, his disciples and mother were present—Christ being the bridegroom and the church the bride. The mother was the backstage coordinator and hidden organizer—the Holy Spirit, whose role exactly corresponds to that of Naomi in the story of Ruth. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27). As Jesus' mother who had lived with him up to this point departed from him, she became the mother of John, and John was adopted as her son. This shows the kind of relationship that the church has with the Holy Spirit. In the others, the Holy Spirit has been given to the church as the proof that the church is the assembly of the adopted children of God—the deposit that guarantees their inheritance. And again, this corresponds to the presence of Naomi who functioned as the last link and hope that ensured that the land of her former husband could be redeemed and given to her son-in-law (adopted son) and his descendants. The church ought to honor the person of the Holy Spirit more.

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:21-22)." Here, we see all the three divine beings present in this short passage. As Jesus, in whom was living the Son God as his spirit, came out of the water, and was praying, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and the voice of the Father God came from heaven speaking to Jesus: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." This occurred as the fulfillment of the following scripture in the Old Testament: I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession (Ps 2:7-8). At this point, Jesus (more particularly, his soul) was adopted into the family of the Trinity as a son because he, too, was a human. As a son, he also became an heir, and "the nations" were given to him as his "inheritance." So, like Joshua, he went out to lay hold of his "possession" to "the ends of the earth." It was how his ministry began, and we, as sons of God, co-heirs with Christ, are part of the extension of the same ministry sharing in his sufferings. It is interesting to note that right after Jesus had been adopted as such, Satan came to tempt him concerning his sonship. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." ... "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. ... "All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me (Mat 4:3-9)." Satan tried to lead him to a wrong way of seeking the possession because he knew that Jesus came to take back what had been lost in man's inheritance as a result of the Fall. Yet, Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan!" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (v. 11). Keep in mind always that as we are co-heirs with Christ, we have what he had. If Satan obeyed Jesus, he also obeys us. If the angels came and attended him, they also come and attend us. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb 1:14)? The ministering of angels is an important part of the spiritual blessings given to all of us who are heirs of God. In fact, the words, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased," were not only spoken to Jesus, but also are spoken to all co-heirs with Christ in the same way today. When Jesus went to John to be baptized by him, John first tried to deter him by saying, "I need to be baptized by you." But Jesus replied: Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness (3:15). Note the word, "us," which included John and the rest of the people who came to be baptized by him. Jesus, as a human, took the same step as the rest of the people needed to take, and was adopted into the family of the Trinity. If the baptism Jesus received was a proper step for him and everyone to take to fulfill righteousness, then the event that took place after he came out of the water—the adoption into God's family of the Trinity with the words saying, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased"—must have been also a part of the proper step for every co-heir with him.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab (Ruth 1:1). The book of Ruth is one of the rare books in the Bible in which women are the main characters. The story itself is short, and is about two women, a widowed mother (Naomi) and her Moabite daughter-in-law (Ruth), who returned to Bethlehem after they had emigrated to the land of Moab because of famine. It tells how they survived and how their life was restored through their kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, who married Ruth, and in whose genealogy later came David. When they had not yet returned to Bethlehem, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry, but Ruth insisted on going with Naomi, and said: Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 16). This confession of hers functioned in the same way as that of Rahab who were saved from destruction by her faith in the God of Israel. Both were gentile, yet were made heirs of God by faith just as we were adopted as God's children and heirs by our faith in Christ. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 18). It was at the time of barley harvest, just before the celebration of the Passover, when they arrived Bethlehem. Ruth went out for gleaning in the fields, and it so happened that she went to the field belonging to Boaz, who was one of Naomi's kinsman-redeemers. Ruth, without knowing it, asked the foreman of the workers to let her glean among the sheaves, which was not normally allowed. The foreman told her to wait till he would ask Boaz about it. So she waited for the arrival of Boaz, and finally: Just then (lit. Behold!) Boaz arrived from Bethlehem (meaning 'house of bread') and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called back (2:4). The writer makes a big deal out of the entry of Boaz into the story as if Boaz came as a savior for these two women who were struggling to get their bread. One of the characteristics of the book of Ruth is that the story contains some expressions and descriptions that seem to allude to something deeper and more spiritual, or some kind of events in the future as prophecies. The above description of the greetings between Boaz and his harvesters is one of them. It somewhat reminds us of the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. Boaz said to Ruth: My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled (vv. 8-9). You can see how Boaz allowed Ruth to work gleaning together with the servant girls of his own, and even allowed her to drink water freely from the jars prepared for his workers. At the time of a meal, he let her sit among his own servants and eat the same food that they ate. He even took some roasted grain and handed it to her. She ate all she wanted, and had some leftover, which she took home and gave to Naomi. Definitely, Boaz treated Ruth in a very special way. This is how God thinks about us, and takes care of us, who were once alienated from him and his blessings, but were adopted into his family to be his children and heirs.

"Agreed," she replied. "Let it be as you say." So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Josh 2:21). Here, the expression, "the scarlet cord," occurs for the second time in this story. Earlier in v. 18, it was "tiqvath hut ha-sshani hazeh," and here, it is simply, "tiqvath ha-sshani"—somewhat shorten or abbreviated from the earlier one. Note, however, the word "tiqvath," which means both "cord" and "hope" is still used (this word for the meaning of "cord" occurs only twice in the Bible). The theological implication behind it is significant. This cord meant hope not only for the salvation of Rahab and her family from the destruction that was about to happen, but also for the salvation of the whole humanity. Rahab continued to live among the Israelites in the land, and later was married to Salmon from the tribe of Judah, and bore Boaz. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth, a Moabite woman, Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David, and Jesus Christ came as a descendant of David (Mat 1:4ff.). Rahab, as well as Ruth, represents the Gentiles who came to be blessed and used as God's heirs. As we already learned, the color of "scarlet" in the expression of "the scarlet chord" points to the blood of Jesus, through which we have now redemption in Christ. Let us explore briefly how this blood came to redeem us. First, take a look at the following scriptures: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace (Eph 1:7). In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). The first point in the meaning of the blood of Jesus is that it has redeemed us from our sins. It was not easy, at all, for God to forgive our sins because he is the God of righteousness. The Bible further explains that this redemption came in two aspects: in paying the ransom for our life and in easing of God's wrath upon us. By sinning, we offered ourselves to Satan to be his slaves, but God bought us back by paying the price so that we would be his children again (1 Cor 6:20, Mat 27:6, etc.). At the same time, God saved us from his wrath by pouring it upon his own Son. In this way, he has demonstrated both his love and his righteousness: he loved us by forgiving our sins, yet maintained his righteousness by punishing his own Son through his anger. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him (Rom 5:9)! Being "justified" means being made righteous. Those who have received the forgiveness of sins, they were made righteous before God. This is the second point in the meaning of Jesus' blood. The unrighteous cannot find favor in the sight of God who is righteous, hence they are the object of his wrath. But if you are righteous, you are an object of God's favor, love and blessings. And this leads us to the third point. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ... since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:22). We have boldness to enter into his presence through the blood of Jesus. This truth serves as the foundation for all the blessings we receive from God as his heirs. Without this boldness, we would not seek God by worshiping him, nor ask him to do anything in prayers—the spiritual numbness before God due to the effect of the sense of guilt, which lingers somewhere deep inside of our soul. Through the blood of Jesus, however, we have boldness—the spiritual keenness on the presence of God, which drives us to go out and lay hold of God's blessings.

When we enter the land, you will tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you will bring your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house (Josh 2:18). These two things were what Rahab was to do before the Israelites would come to destroy Jericho: to tie "this scarlet cord" in the same window as she let these spies down, and to gather all those who belonged to her into her house. Here, the phrase, "this scarlet cord," draws our special interest. The phrase in Hebrew is, tiqvath hut ha-sshani hazeh, and it probably means, "the thread/cloth of this scarlet string/cord." Since we do not know exactly how tiqvah is different from hut in the meaning, these two words are together translated as "cord" in NIV. The word that gives the meaning of "scarlet" is shani, and it was the color of the matter produced by insects called coccus ilicis: the dried bodies of the females of this insect was widely used for coloring matter. The worm of this kind of insect is called tola'ath in Hebrew, and this word, together with shani, appears in the instruction for the purification of a healed leper in Leviticus: He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn (sheni hattola'ath) and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. The phrase, sheni hattola'ath, indicates that this yarn must be colored by the coloring matter produced by the kind of insect mentioned above, and the yarn is used to bind the wood and the branches of the hyssop together. Then, the priest is to dip the whole thing into mixture of living water and the blood of a killed bird. This is obviously the picture of Jesus being crucified on the cross. We have also the following prophecy. But I am a worm (tola'ath) and not a man, Scorned by men and despised by the people (Ps 22:6). The word for "a worm" is tola'ath, and as explained above, this worm is used to produce the color of blood. Christ is depicted as a blood-producing worm. Another thing that needs to be explained is the use of the word, tiquvah. In the aforementioned phrase, "this scarlet cord," it means some kind of cord, thread, or cloth. But the same word with the same pronunciation also means "hope." Apparently, the word is used in double meanings. This cord was the hope by which Rahab and all who belonged to her were saved. Note that the pronoun "this (hazeh)" is attached to the phrase, and it implies that the same cord was used to let the two spies down. They were also saved by this "hope." For us who are in Christ, this hope is Christ himself, and his blood by which we have the forgiveness of our sins. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). If there were no forgiveness, there would be no righteousness. If there were no righteousness, we would not be heirs of God. If we were not heirs of God, there would be no blessings upon us, and we would be still under curses, and when we die, we would be sent to hell—no hope at all. I led them with cords of human kindness (lit. I pulled them with the ropes of human), with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them (Hos 11:4). The "cords (ropes) of human (adam)" are the ropes that are red (adom), and they are the ropes of Jesus' blood (dam), "ties of love." It was with this kind of rope that two spies escaped from Jericho, and with the same rope, Rahab and all those who belonged to her were saved. And with the same scarlet rope of hope, we who are now in Christ, were saved.

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, … Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, … Jesse the father of King David (Mat 1:1-5). Genealogies in the Bible are not given simply to show who the ancestors of the Jews were, but to show how the inheritance originated from God had been given to certain individuals, and then, handed down to a certain group of their descendants, and so on. In other words, the significance of genealogies lies in the passing of God's inheritance in the history of humankind. The reason that the above genealogy in Matthew begins with Abraham is that the original inheritance given to Adam at the creation was lost as a result of sin, but came to be renewed at the time of Abraham with the covenant God made with him promising that a nation of God's heirs would be built, and eventually the other peoples on earth would join them as well. As you know, this promise has come to be fulfilled in Christ: the Gentiles can be heirs of God by faith. And as if to show and prove this truth, Matthew lists the name Rahab in the genealogy above. She was a Canaanite woman, a prostitute. Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there (Josh 2:1). The Israel army marched around Jericho with the ark of the covenant carried by priests. Following the long blast of the seven shofaroth, the army shouted a big war cry, and at that time, the walls of Jericho fell down flat where they were. The city and everything in it was totally devoted to God, and Joshua pronounced a curse upon it saying: Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates (6:26). Rahab, a prostitute, who was living in such a city, was saved from this curse and chosen as an heir of God, and out of her descendants came Jesus Christ. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, … But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day (vv. 24-25). The statement, "she lives among the Israelites to this day," indicates that she was accepted as an Israelite woman. In fact, according to the genealogy in Matthew, she married Salmon, who was from the tribe of Judah, and bore a son, Boaz, who also married a Gentile woman, Ruth. At the time of the writing of the book of Joshua, she was still alive, and probably lived in Bethlehem. Note how she confessed to the two spies about the God of Israel: I know that the LORD has given this land to you … We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, … for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below (2:9-11). It was because of this faith and the confession she made that she, her family, and all who belonged to her were saved from the destruction of Jericho, and counted among the chosen people, the heirs of God.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:12). If the promise that we will be heirs of God is fulfilled by faith, then, the promise that we will be blessed with various blessing we are entitled to as heirs of God is also fulfilled by faith. Therefore, the fight we fight in order to receive God's blessings takes place in the area of our faith. The reason that this is a fight is because everywhere in this world, we see the work of destruction, but instead, we want to see the work of creation in our life. This friction between the work of destruction and that of creation results in ongoing fights we fight as long as we live on earth. The above scripture encourages us to "fight the good fight of the faith" we have in Christ. It is good to fight, and every fight we fight is a good fight because we are more than conquerors as long as we fight correctly according to God's word. Let us see a few examples of how we are to fight in order to take possession of what is promised. See, for instance, the following words: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Mat 6:33). It is crucial to know that the way we work to live today has come as a result of our sin. God did not create our world this way at the beginning. So, what God did by making us his heirs again through his redemption in Christ was to bring us back to the original state, in which all the spiritual and physical needs were met by our "heavenly Father," so that we would fully concentrate on seeking his kingdom and his righteousness first. And we know that it takes faith to do so believing that our Father will meet all our needs. Surely, it is a fight of faith, and the above scripture teaches us the correctly way to fight this fight. There is another kind of fight we all fight in this world. The Bible says, "by his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5)." Sickness is the work of destruction upon our physical bodies, which also came as a result of our sin. Yet, in Christ, just as we have been redeemed from our sins, we have also been set free from all sickness and diseases. It is important, however, to know that no blessings fall on us automatically: we need to take possession of them by faith. So, to struggle to get healed and stay healthy is another type of fight we fight. Jesus said to a paralytic at one time, "Get up, take your mat and go home." He did not pray, but commanded the paralytic to get up, take his mat and go home. This paralytic had neither got up, taken his mat, nor gone home walking on his feet for some time, but as he tried, and began to do what he was commanded believing that he could do so, the miracle happened to him. It was a fight of faith that he fought correctly according to Jesus' word, and he was healed. In the book of Joshua, we read the story of the people of Israel crossing the Jordan to enter the Promised Land. God commanded the priests: When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river (Josh 3:8). And the book goes on to say: Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, … while the water … was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho (vv. 16-16). This happened because Joshua, the priests and the people—all of them—faithfully obeyed God and did what he told them to do. It should be compared with the story of the spies sent to the Promised Land in Numbers 13-14. The people who heard the reports of the spies, grumbled, wailed and wished that they had been in Egypt. The difference is big and obvious, and it is exactly this difference that brings the difference between those who actually receive the blessings promised to God's heirs and those who do not.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it (Mat 11:12). We learned last time that we as heirs of God must go and forcefully lay hold of the kingdom of God together with all kinds of blessings associated with this inheritance. Although the kingdom of God exists in our world, it does not exist physically. Where the will of God is carried out through the name of Jesus, there is the kingdom of God. So, then, the questions we ask are: what kind of battle are we to fight, and what kind of force do we need to have in order to lay hold of our inheritance? Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:12). Since the kingdom of God is a spiritual kind of kingdom, the battle we fight takes place in the spiritual realm. This scripture encourages us to "fight a good fight of faith." Faith substantializes what is hoped for and not seen, making the spiritual realities of God's word real in our physical world. So, our task as fighters of faith is to make the spiritual realities promised concerning the kingdom of God real in this physical world following the example of Abraham. The word "good (kalos)" can mean good in a legal sense—"right" or "correct." Players in a sports-related game must fight according to the rules set for the game, otherwise they will be disqualified. In the same way, we need to fight this fight correctly by following the rules set in the Bible, if we want to win. In fact, the Bible tells us that we are more than conquerors, and we do not fight wondering whether we will win or not. Every fight we fight is always a "good" fight because we are already winners. The word "fight" naturally comes to be associated with negative feelings in our mind. We instinctively try to avoid any involvement in a fighting situation where some extra efforts, energy, and even sacrifices are demanded. We remember the story of Num 13-14: the people of Israel refused to go into the Promised Land because of their fear and unbelief, and it provoked the anger of God. Not knowing that the fight they were to fight was a "good" fight, they were defeated in the battle of faith by not fighting, and failed to take possession of what was promised to them. It is a "good" thing to fight, and God even trains his children, as he did to Abraham, to make them good fighters. Thus, a refusal to fight this fight is considered a rebellion against God as seen in the story of Num 13-14, and is as bad as making a golden calf as in Exod 32. More importantly, God expects his heirs to go and fight for the sake of others who have not yet received what is promised to them. God said to Joshua after Moses died: No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; …. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them (Josh 1:5-6). The task given to Joshua was not for his own possession, but for the inheritance that the whole assembly of Israel were to receive. This applies now to every worker of God, who has received the Spirit of God and become his heir in Christ. Moreover, note the way God commanded those two and a half tribes (the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh) who had already received their lands in Transjordan to cross the Jordan ahead of the other tribes and help them take possession of the land. … all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, … east of the Jordan toward the sunrise (vv. 14-15). This is exactly what God expects you to do as his heir while you are here on earth.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it (Mat 11:12). We, as heirs of God, have come to inherit the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is where God's will and his good work of salvation, such as health and prosperity, love and peace, and the restoration of what was lost or destroyed, are being done. John the Baptist in his ministry taught the Jews that having Abraham as their (external) father would not automatically make them God's heirs, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As a result, many had come to inherit the kingdom of God by seeking God's righteousness. Jesus saw it, and described it as in the above scripture. Obviously, the same result and phenomenon were seen in the ministry of Jesus who took over that of John. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. … people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, … followed him (4:23-25). Here, we see a very important truth that we need to know if we desire to live as God's heirs. God's kingdom is something we must seek in order to lay hold of it. Be aware that the kingdom of God in this sense is not the heaven that you will enter when you finish your life on earth. For heaven, you do not need to fight, but for the spiritual kingdom of God on earth, you need to fight and take it by the force of your faith. Even if you are entitled to all the blessings promised in the Bible as God's heir, no blessings will come to you automatically without seeking and taking them by faith. And this truth leads us to another important truth: that is, God has called all of us who are believers to be the forceful men and women who would go out and lay hold of God's kingdom, not only for ourselves, but also for our family members, friends, and the others around us. Believers are all, in this sense, warriors for God's kingdom, who go out to the places where Satan and all his spiritual forces are at work, and fight against them so that the kingdom of God be built there. In fact, this task of God's heirs is well illustrated in the story of the sending of spies to the Promised Land and its aftermath. The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders (Num 13:1-2)." The land that had been promised to them would not be given to them automatically. God sent spies to the land to see if the people would desire to possess it or not. They had to desire it, and were required to go and take it by force. Yet, to our surprise, they did not desire it, and refused to possess it. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert (14:2-3)! Having been filled with fear and complaints, they dumped the promise of God together will all the blessings they were about to receive. And they did not realize that it was a great rebellion against God. The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them (v. 11)?" As the people of Israel came out of Egypt to enter and take the Promised Land, we believers were saved from the world in order to lay hold of God's kingdom. Let us be strong and courageous like Joshua and Caleb who said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it!"

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith (Rom 4:13). In order for a man to be an heir of God, he must be righteous before God. With sin, no one can be an heir before God, and the promises of blessings given in the Bible are totally irrelevant to the unrighteous according to the Bible. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10). This principle can be observed in the stories of Genesis that we looked at earlier: for instance, we saw how Adam and Eve were driven out the Garden of Eden when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how Cain became a wanderer when he killed Abel, how all the wicked people died at the time of Noah's flood, and how Ham and his sons, Canaanites, were cursed by Noah after the flood. Thus, the righteousness of God and the eligibility to be an heir of God are inseparable in the Bible. And it is on the basis of this principle that Paul argues in Romans: What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3)." Again, Paul's interpretation of the story of Abraham in Gen 15 is very unique, and it is worth exploring it. Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body (internal part) will be your heir (Gen 15:4)." The Hebrew word for "your own body" is me'eh, and it means internal organs or the internal part of being, and thus, the "heir" here refers collectively to the descendants of spiritual birth rather than the biological descendants of Abraham. In other words, those coming from the internal part of Abraham are the ones who believe in their heart and are justified (Rom 10:10)—those that have experienced the spiritual rebirth by believing the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all (Rom 4:16). There is no longer the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. We, believers in Christ, are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, segullah—God's treasured possession, and an excellent people. All the blessings promised to Abraham are ours, and we are a blessing as he was: those who bless us will be blessed through us. The status of humans as heirs of the universe at the beginning of creation has been completely restored in Christ. … so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7). What is crucial for us, therefore, is that we should stand completely and firmly upon the fact that we have become the righteousness of God through the death and resurrection of Christ. When doubt comes, the sense of guilt comes in, and we stop living as heirs of God: as birds of prey begin to fly over us, we end up being Satan's prey.

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there (Gen 11:1-2). This is how the story of the Tower of Babel begins. The significance of this story becomes highlighted when it is compared with the story of Abram in chapter 12. While people moved eastward from Mt. Ararat to the region of Shinar (northwest of the Persian Gulf) to settle there, Abram moved westward from Ur in Shinar to the land of Canaan (11:31), and it was by the Lord's command that he did so. The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you (12:1)." On the other hand, in the case of the Tower of Babel, it was by their own choice that they tried to build a town and a tower that would reach to the heaven, which is well expressed in the following words: They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks (for ourselves) and bake them thoroughly." … Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth (11:3-4)." Note that the subject of the verbs is always "we," and everything was "for ourselves." In contrast to this, the emphasis in the story of Abram is placed upon the will and wish of the Lord: I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing (lit. be a blessing!). I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (12:2-3). Here, the subject of the verbs is "I," and the rare use of the imperative form of Be-verb, "be a blessing!" indicates the strong wish of the speaker upon his partner. And noteworthy is the last statement, "and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you," which implies that these people will be gathered again and become one. The exact opposite of this happened in the Tower of Babel incident: the people tried to be one, but they were scattered. The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same (lit. one) language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other (11:6-7)." Apparently, God did not like the way they tried to be one by building a city and a tower (note the sarcasm in "let us go down"). What was wrong about it? In fact, here is the core (eye) of the sins of humanity (cf. Zech 5:6). It is important to keep in mind the fact that after the loss of the Garden of Eden, the world existed with no spiritual connection with God (an axis or a center that connects the heaven and the earth), and humans who were wandering in the land with no connection with God could not be heirs of God. Thus, the people in the story of the Tower of Babel tried to make such a connection by themselves, which is idolatry, and every kind of greed in the flesh (Eph 5:5). While the world was (still is) moving toward the same wickedness, God began with Abram to carry out his own plan of establishing a sanctuary that would connect the heaven and the earth so that humans, by faith, could become heirs of God again. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all (Rom 4:16).

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth (Gen 9:13). Note the pronoun "my" in "my rainbow," which indicates that this rainbow is something God possesses. The Hebrew word qesheth means both 'rainbow' and 'bow' because the two have the same shape. A bow in the Bible is a symbol of victory over battles. The greatest battle that humans came to face was the battle against death, yet it was impossible for them to have victory over it. So God sent his Only Son to this world, let him die and go to hell, laying all the sins of the world upon him, and from there, he raised him, and exalted him to the highest place in heaven. It is as though God, using his own bow, pulled an arrow down as low as hell, and released it to shoot up into heaven. The arrow broke through the wall of hell, and blew away the clouds of death (according the Babylonian astrology, the Arrow-star, Sirius, measures the depths of the sea, and lowers the level of water in the floods as it rises high in the night sky in summer time. A bow is the weapon that Ishtar, the goddess of war, carries, and she is also called 'the Bow-star.'). He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken (Isa 25:8). The expression, "forever," has a nuance of victory, and can be also translated as "in victory." When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54)." The expression, "in victory," indicates that there was a battle, and it is connected with the "rainbow" or the "bow" that came up in the sky after the flood. Death has no longer power over us, and we will be only transferred from the perishable earthly body to the imperishable heavenly body. The resurrection in this meaning does not simply mean rising from the dead, but it also means ascending to heaven. Jesus often referred to his resurrection in this meaning as follows: What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before (John 6:62)! Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned (lit. ascended) to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, "I am returning (lit. ascending) to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (20:17)." The same idea with the same emphasis is found in the epistles as follows: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name (Phil 2:8-9). For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence (Heb 9:24). Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Rom 8:34-37).

On this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds (lit. face of covering upon) all peoples, the sheet that covers (lit. mask casted upon) all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken (Isa 25:7-8). These are the words that lie behind what John witnessed inside the empty tomb: two kinds of cloth were used for the burial of Jesus, but the one that had been around his head was placed separately from the other. Note, however, the coverings mentioned in this scripture of Isaiah are much larger covering the whole earth. They symbolize death that came upon humanity: death is depicted as if it is covering the whole earth as dark clouds. This description reminds us of the story of the flood in the book of Genesis. It says, "all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened (Gen 7:11)." The subterranean water burst into sky, producing thick clouds in the sky, so rain began to fall heavily. It happened when Methuselah (meaning "death sending") died as Enoch, his father, named him as a prophecy of the coming of the flood. It came to be fulfilled as God said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth (6:7)." As Noah came out of the ark after the flood waters subsided, the first thing he did was to offer burnt offerings to God. The smoke reached heaven, and he smelled it, and said: Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands (9:1-2). It was back to square one, and God started over with Noah and his family. It indicates that his first plan to bless humans as his heirs had not changed at all even though sin had already come into this world, and humans continued to be sinful. His plan now was to redeem them from sins, and make them perfect heirs again. And surely, I will demand your blood for your life; from the hand of every animal I will demand it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of each brother, I will demand the life of the human. As for the one who sheds the blood of the human, by the human, his blood will be shed, for in the image of God, he made the human (vv. 5-6, translation mine) This was not simply to legalize death penalty, but rather, it was a prophecy concerning the one who was to to be given as a ransom for the lives of sinners. It meant that God would make a new covenant with humans and all the living things. And as a sign for this covenant, he promised to give his rainbow: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life (vv. 13-15). A rainbow appears when rain stops, clouds are disappearing, and streams of sunlight break into the land. It is a symbol of hope and victory over death—the resurrection of Jesus. The cloths that had covered his dead body were put off, and the tomb became empty. Death has been swallowed up in victory! Those who believe that Jesus was raised from the dead have overcome the world, and have become heirs inheriting the kingdom of God.

This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. … When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth (5:1-3). The second point in the meaning of "in the likeness (Demuth)" and "in his image (tselem)" is that man was created as God's son resembling him in his divine nature. In a sense, Adam was given spiritual DNA from God, which was also handed down to the generations after him. It should be noted, however, that as for the heirs of the world after the Fall of Man, only one child—usually the firstborn son—in each generation was chosen as an heir. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died (vv. 4-5). Note the expression, "… had sons and daughters." While many other sons and daughters were born of Adam, Seth is recorded as an heir in the genealogy. However, from chapter 4, we know that Adam had two more sons, Cain and Abel, before Seth. Originally, Cain was the firstborn son who was to be the heir, but Abel was chosen for the following reason: In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast (4:3-5). The reason why Cain's offering was not accepted was because he did not do what was right following the instruction given to him as he brought the offering to the Lord. So the inheritance was removed from him and given to his brother Abel whose offering was accepted because he did what was right. As Cain watched Abel being blessed as an heir, he became so jealous of him that he ended up killing him. Jealousy is the worst kind of sin, and Jesus was also killed because of jealousy. God declared: Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth (vv. 11-12). Here the last sentence indicates that Cain was no longer an heir. So, God, out of his mercy, gave him a sign so that nobody would inflict vengeance on him. In this way, the inheritance was removed from Cain, and given to Abel, but since Abel was killed, it was given to Seth, another son of Adam and Eve. After Seth, it was given to Enosh, and after Enosh, it was given to Kenan, and then to Mahalalrel, and so on. And finally, after Lamech, it was given to Noah. What you need to keep in mind is that the lifespan of these people in this genealogy was somewhere between 700 and 1000 years except that of Enoch, which was only 365 years. The first death, which was the death of Adam, occurred after Methuselah (the 8th generation) was born. If sin had not come into the world, death would not have occurred. And if death had not occurred, the passing on of the inheritance as seen in this genealogy would not have been necessary. The genealogy of God's heirs continues and comes to the generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After Jacob the inheritance was extended to all his sons. In the same way, the inheritance given through Christ is extended to all believers. Therefore, the promise (to be heir of the world) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all (Rom 4:16).

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)." It is a great truth that God created everything for humans, and he intended to give the world to humans from the very beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth. Humans are, and have been always heirs of the world. Among the phrases in the above scripture, this time we will explore the meanings of "in our image (tselem), in our likeness (demuth)." Since our topic is about the inheritance we receive as sons of God, we will focus upon the following points that will help us understand what these phrases mean. 1) As statues that represent God 2) As children of God 3) As ones who walk on two feet First, concerning point 1), it can be explained from the custom that existed in the ancient world—the placing of a king's statue in the land that he conquered for the purpose of showing that it came to belong to him. A good example of this is seen in the story of king Saul who went to conquer the Amalekites who occupied the region south and south-west of the Dead Sea. Having seen that the land became his, he went to Carmel and "set up a monument in his own honor (lit. … is now erecting a hand for him (1 Sam 15:12)." His action of erecting a statue or monument indicated that he now owned the land. It is important to know that both "tselem" and "demuth" are sometimes used in the Bible to mean "idol"—a statue of a god. God does not want anybody to make idols because God made humans as his statues to represent him. By making idols, we are denying the purpose and meaning of our own existence. The story of Jacob who set up a stone pillar at Bethel is another example associated with this idea of God's statue (Gen 28). He called the pillar "God's house" that had the function of a ladder connecting between the heaven and the earth. However, we know that God does not live in a stone. What Jacob did not know was that the stone symbolized Jacob himself who represented God on earth and functioned as a ladder, or a bull that walked on two feet. And it is not difficult to see that the stone served as a mark indicating that someday the land would be possessed by him and his descendants. When he returned from Laban's house, he came to Bethel again, and worshiped the Lord. And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you (Gen 35:11-12)." In this passage are found the expressions typically referring to the inheritance promised to the children of God. These words were, in a sense, a prophecy about the people of Israel who would come to exist as his heirs—the kingdom of God's treasured possession. Interestingly, there was, in fact, another kind of a kingdom that would come to be established in a similar way. The death and burial of Rachel prophecies about it. She died and was buried just outside of Bethlehem, and Jacob set up a stone pillar over her tomb (35:19). For us who know the New Testament, it sounds as if Rachel were laid there to pray for the coming of the Messaiah (Mat 2:17-18). As for the point 2) above, the idea is obviously based upon the way children resemble their parents in many ways. For this meaning, we should look at the beginning of Adam's genealogy: This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. … When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth (5:1-3).

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mat 16:16)." The most significant part of this confession by Peter in the mind of Jesus was "the Son": God is not only the Father of Jesus, but also of his disciples—one of the predominant themes in the gospel of Matthew. It frequently records the words of Jesus who taught his disciples calling God as "your heavenly Father" (5:16, 45, 6:1, 8, 15, 7:11, etc.). You see the same theme flowing in this passage of Mat 16. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven (v. 17). According to Jesus, it was the Father himself who taught Peter that Christ is his Son. Here, the apparent implication, on the basis of the theme of Matthew, is that this God became also Peter's Father through his confession. And it should be remembered that in the Bible, the concept of sonship is always associated with the idea that children are heirs. And I tell you that you are Peter (rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (vv. 18-19). Kingdoms are inherited (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10, James 2:5 etc.) . Thus, to have "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" means to inherit this kingdom with authorities. However, in order to be an heir of this kingdom, Peter needed to be a stone rejected by men following the example of Jesus who became the first such stone. Yet, Peter had no idea what this meant at this point (cf. 1 Pet 2:4ff., Eph 2:20). From that time on Jesus began to tell his disciples that he would suffer, be killed, and be raised to life on the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you (v. 22)!" In the eyes of Peter's mind, this messiah would go up to Jerusalem to be a glorious king, and the one sitting right next to him was Peter himself. Suddenly, Jesus turned and said: Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men (v. 23). Here, the way Jesus acted was almost equivalent to the way he acted when Satan said to him, "All this (all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor) I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me (Mat 4:9)." It is important to note that the issue in both cases was the inheritance of kingdoms. Jesus said to the disciples: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it (vv. 24-25). To "deny himself and take up his cross," or to "lose his life for me" means to die with Christ, and it points to the spiritual rebirth that a believer in Christ experiences. Such is the one chosen to be an heir of the world. Keep in mind what God said in Jer 27:5: "With great power … I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to any I please." What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (v. 26)?

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)." When you read the whole chapter of Genesis 1 from the beginning, you get a sense that the world was created for humans who were created at the last. In fact, God said, "… and let them ruler over the fish of the seas, … over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground," and it indicates that he had planed and prepared everything so that humans could rule over what he had created. And this leads us to the idea that we humans are the heirs of the world. This does not mean, however, that we can rule over the world selfishly, not according to God's will. Needless to say, such a self-seeking and dictatorial manner of ruling is a sin, and this ownership by humans assumes that the world is without sin. More importantly, the Bible also says that the world and everything in it were initially created by and for God the Son, the first image of the invisible God. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:15-17). Note the expression "the image of the invisible God," which the Son was at the beginning, before anything was created, and definitely before he was born as a human, a descendant of Adam in the New Testament time. He is the head of humans, and in him, we exist as sons of God. The expression, "the image of God," signifies sonship with God being the Father. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (Eph 1:3-6). Note the expression, "he chose us." In the Bible, the one chosen belongs to the one who chooses. Then, note the expression, "he predestined us to be adopted as his sons." Because we were created, in order to be the sons of the Creator, we needed to be adopted. This adoption was planned and purposed before the creation of the world. In the same way, Israel was chosen, and adopted as God's own possession. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites (Exod 19:5-6). Note the expression, "my treasured possession" (lit. "(a) treasure belonging to me"). The noun in Hebrew is segullah, and it is always used referring to Israel except once. The idea is that Israel was chosen in God's love, and became "treasure" to him. See, for instance, the following passage: The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession (segullah). The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, … But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you … (Deut 7:6-8).

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). The very first verse of the Bible indicates that everything that exists today was created by God, and is, therefore, owned by him. For everything in this world, there is someone who owns it, and nobody is allowed to use anything that is not his/hers without the owner's consent. The above scripture implies that God is the owner of everything, and we are only allowed to use what he has with his permission. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all (1 Chr 29:11). These were the words spoken by David, the anointed king of Israel, to whom God promised that he would establish his kingdom forever. For many years, he ran away from king Saul who tried to kill him because of his jealousy. He went out for battle countless times, and always came back with victory expanding the territory of his nation. The people were blessed, and the kingdom became powerful through him. Yet, when he desired to build a temple for God, he was refused. So he prepared providing hundreds of tons of gold and silver as well as the other materials so that his son would build it. David said: Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all (v. 12). This truth, he knew very well: "wealth and honor come from" God, who only entrusted some of what he owned to him for a certain period according to his own purposes. In fact, God lets those who stand upon this truth see the hidden windows, through which he pours out all the spiritual blessings upon them. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (v. 14). Those who consider what has been only entrusted to them by God as something they posses as their own do not give. When they give, they tell others concerning something very small they did as if it were something very big. This is what it means to take God's glory to themselves. Glory belongs to God, and it must be given to him. And, there is a truth that is even more fundamental: we ourselves belong to God as we were all created by him. Whose am I: have you ever asked this question? Well, since it was God who created you, you must be his: your life, your talents, your money, whatever you posses, and your existence itself are all his. And in order to teach the world about this, God chose and created Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod 19:4-5). The difference between those who are God's treasured possession and those who are not is the difference between light and darkness, life and death, or blessings and curses. This is because those who are not God's treasured possession have come to belong to somebody else. And if you come to be adopted as a child of another parent or family, you will be required to live according to the rules of the new family. For Israel, these rules were the Law. Since their God was righteous and holy, they needed to be righteous and holy also.